THE KEY TO SECURING A PROGRESSIVE

THE ENDOWMENT CAMPAIGN FOR THE BANK STREET SCHOOL FOR CHILDREN

Message from the Dean

I am very excited to invite you to learn about the Bank Street School for Children’s first-ever endowment campaign, and to join us in stewarding it to a resounding success. We all know that Bank Street has a profound impact on children’s learning and growth. The School for Children community also deeply engages the families of those chil-dren and their teachers in a shared sense of joy in learning. This kind of work is important for the world to have and contributes to our belief in education as a vehicle through which to build a better society.

In 2011, Bank Street embarked on an endowment campaign, Securing a Progressive Future, to be able to step boldly and confidently into a future in which we continue to lead through our vision and practice of progressive education. We hope you will be a part of the success of this transformational undertaking.

The call to action in this Endowment Campaign booklet is sincere and earnest. I want to acknowledge the Co-Chairs of the Campaign Steering Committee, David Guyer and Sandra Pinnavaia, for their strong leadership, as well as all the members of the Campaign Steering Committee, whose names you will see at the back of this book. We hope that you will feel inspired to give back to an institution whose dedicated educators have nurtured you, your child(ren) and your family.

Thank you for your participation in creating a School that reaffirms its commitment to educational excellence and promoting a just and humane society through its mission every day. We look forward to your partnership as we reach toward achieving our $8 million goal by January 2014!

Sincerely,

Alexis S. WrightDean, Children’s Programs

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Now is Bank Street’s Time

Bank Street School for Children and Bank Street College of Education: Progressive Education in Practice

Children and teaching have always been at the core of our mission. Bank Street was founded almost 100 years ago on progressive principles that defi ned innovative and powerful new ways of thinking about education and teacher preparation. Children become lifelong learners when knowledgeable, dedicated teachers guide their growth through a process of developing their social, emotional, cognitive, and physical capacities and by allowing them to make meaning from direct experience with the world around them. Bank Street’s progressive approach to educating the whole child has its fullest expression in the School for Children, and continues to inspire us and generations of families and educators.

Bank Street Redefi nes Progressive Education Every Day

Because of its connections to the Graduate School of Education, the School for Children benefi ts from some of the best teacher preparation, advocacy, research, and policy development in the country—theory and practice, all in one place. This special environment allows teachers to rethink our commitment to children every day and to provide fresh ways to educate our students in a rapidly changing educational world.

Now we are moving ahead with a major fundraising effort to signifi cantly build the endowment of the School for Children to support our faculty, a diverse community, and the programs that nurture our children to explore their world in school and in life, and to contribute to creating a just and democratic society.

A healthy and substantial endowment will ensure that the School for Children has the continued capacity to lead, and to take advantage of opportunities presented by the world in which children and teachers learn. This effort is one of the most important undertakings in the School’s history.

Now is the time to invest in Bank Street’s present and plan for a future of leadership, promise, and possibility—redefi ning progressive education for the 21st century.

Join us!

“The School for Children is a two-for-one education: parents learn about child development,

and the School produces an unrelentingly curious student

who is a lifelong learner with a strong sense of social justice.”

Sandra Pinnavaia, Trustee, SFC Alumni Parent

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Securing a Progressive Future: An $8 Million Endowment Campaign

By increasing our endowment, we will ensure that the School for Children remains strong and continues to evolve as a leading voice for progressive education.

A strong endowment provides a secure base of resources, reduces dependence on tuition, facilitates long-term fi nancial planning and program objectives, and provides for programmatic fl exibility and organizational change.

How will a strong endowment help us educate the next generation of children?

Keep the School for Children open and accessible to all children and families. We pride ourselves in holding a broad concept of diversity and community. Endowment income will continue to ensure that families from a broad range of socioeconomic circumstances will be able to join our community. Need-based fi nancial aid is the key to creating an affordable Bank Street.

Retain and support our superb faculty, and attract new talent to our community, by providing enhanced professional development opportunities, leadership incentives, and a collegial professional environment for educators.

Sustain educational excellence through curriculum development, technology enhancements, and other programs to support the individual learner as well as the collaborative learning community.

Build the School’s capacity and fi nancial infrastructure for future sustainability, ensuring that Bank Street will thrive and lead for future generations. The income generated from the endowment will provide a new, guaranteed revenue stream for the School’s top priorities. Combining the two main sources of support—a new endowment revenue stream and a robust Annual Fund—will sustain a strong program in the School.

“Are you forming children who are only capable of learning what is already known? Or

should we try to develop creative and innovative minds, capable of discovery from the preschool age

and beyond, throughout life?”Jean Piaget, developmental psychologist and philosopher

Your gift advances our educational mission in three critical areas:

Educational Curriculum developmentExcellence

Technology enhancements

Educational initiatives Faculty Professional developmentExcellence

Leadership incentives Recruitment and retention Community Need-based fi nancial aidAnd Diversity grants to ensure socioeconomic diversity

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The Case for Endowment

Why now?

In 2010, Bank Street’s Dean of Children’s Programs, the Board of Trustees, and the President embarked upon a strategic planning process focused on the need to build the School for Children endowment, which was far lower than our benchmarking group of independent schools. In September 2011, we began the “quiet phase” of the endowment campaign, with the goal of completing the campaign in three years, and quadrupling the School’s endowment. We are now in the “community phase” of the campaign, seeking gifts and pledges from our entire community of current families, alumni, alumni parents, and grandparents.

Being a beacon of progressive education has a price

We are committed to providing vigorous leadership in progressive education. To fulfi ll this commitment, we must both build on our strengths, and look ahead.

While the School for Children is thriving, we have reached a critical juncture in our efforts to balance tuition increases, the need for fi nancial aid to support a socioeconomically diverse community, and to support at the highest level possible our exceptional faculty.

Our peer schools, with which we compete for faculty and students, have aggressively added to their endowments.

Peer Comparison: Endowment per Student (2013-14)

0 $20,000 $40,000 $60,000 $80,000 $100,000

“What potentialities in human beings—children, teachers, ourselves—do we want to

see develop? Flexibility when confronted with change and ability to relinquish patterns

that no longer fi t the present.”from Bank Street’s credo

0 20000 40000 60000 80000 100000

Little Red Schoolhouse & Elizabeth Irwin $3,295

Bank Street (at start of campaign) $6,050

The Calhoun School $9,549

Bank Street (now) $12,442

Village Community School $12,408

Trevor Day School $21,128

Future Bank Street $25,581

Friends Seminary $25,852

Ethical Culture Fieldston School $40,936

Grace Church School $48,603

The Dalton School $55,791

The Town School $87,743

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Endowment Supports…

ExcellenceBy supporting our efforts to attract and retain the best teachers, endowment underwrites excellence in education. There is a well-documented teacher shortage looming in the 21st century. Bank Street must continue to make a career in teaching an attractive choice for the most promising educators.

TeachersFor the School to remain a leader, we must invest in our teachers today, giving them the opportunities and resources to embrace the best practices and innovations of the 21st century learning environment informed by our progressive principles. Through collaboration and incorporating best practices, and continuing their own learning, the School for Children’s outstanding faculty will continue to be encouraged to constantly improve their craft. The endowment campaign will underwrite:

Professional development funds for faculty to attend and present at conferences

The Michael Cook Fund for Science, Math, Technology & Environmental Sustainability

Summer grants for faculty to pursue research and develop curricula

Leadership incentives

A dedicated and talented faculty who are passionate about teaching and learning

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Community & DiversityThe School for Children makes a major effort to recruit and retain children, families, and faculty from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds in order to refl ect the diversity inherent in our multicultural society. Diversity is explicitly highlighted in our mission. This effort is consistent with the progressive idea that schools should represent the demographics of the society in which they exist, and that all members of a community benefi t from a diverse learning environment. We strive to support and advocate for a community of children and adults who are aware and embrace diversity, including race, ethnicity, class, religion, gender, sexual orientation, family structure, physical ability, and learning style. Our philosophical beliefs and day-to-day practice have a prominent anti-bias foundation, as well as a social justice and equity-driven curriculum.

At the same time, demand for fi nancial aid from highly qualifi ed students has been growing dramatically, and the School has been unable to meet the need.

Our commitment to diversity means having a robust fi nancial aid program that not only includes need-based tuition assistance but also support for ancillary costs when needed, such as tutoring, counseling, and test preparation assistance. The endowment campaign will underwrite need-based fi nancial aid to sustain our broad spectrum of socio-economic diversity

InnovationBy underwriting the development of new curricula, the School for Children endowment will help keep us at the forefront of creative and engaging curriculum development. Who, for example, could have foreseen a few decades ago the important role that costly technology would play in a Bank Street education?

OpportunityDuring every school year, unexpected educational opportunities emerge. They may be new teaching materials or off-campus experiential endeavors. A larger endowment will give the School fl exibility to take advantage of these options even though they are not in the operating budget.

Peer Comparison: Percentage of Students Receiving Need-based Financial Aid

0 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

Village Community School 22%

Trevor Day 18%

Town School 15%

Dalton 22%

Calhoun 18%

LREI 33%

Grace Church 24%

Friends Seminary 22%

Ethical Culture Fieldston 21%

Bank Street 34%

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A Vision for the 21st Century

What will it mean to be a progressive school in the future?

Bank Street must continue to embrace a blend of our foundational values with new tools and new ways of learning. We will fi nd new ways to demonstrate the nexus of critical thinking and collaboration, and continue to nurture in our students creativity, confi dence, and curiosity. In the 21st century, we know that our students should also develop cultural literacy, and an ability to reach beyond their own community and engage in the world. We can lead by documenting our curricula and sharing it with other educators.

What will teaching and learning look like in the future?

We know that the global community will have an increased reliance on technology, math, science, and engineering, and the School must ensure that we remain strong in these areas. We will continue to expand the physical boundaries of the classroom to encourage our students to explore the world even further. We remain deeply committed to a broad, humanistic view of education. Connections and collaborations with people of different cultures, religions, and sociopolitical viewpoints will become increasingly important, and so the School must continue to provide students with experience in such collaborations. Though our curriculum evolves and our educational tool box expands in response to the changing needs of children and families, our broad defi nition of education will continue as a defi ning value. Our program will continue to evolve in ways that align with our values, to foster critical thinking, infuse the curricula with a strong commitment to social justice and advocacy, nurture the confi dence to approach problems creatively, and develop the ability to be fully human in all areas of life.

What challenges do we anticipate over the next decade?

Like many independent institutions, we are reliant on tuition revenue. As tuition increases, we expect greater demand for fi nancial aid, with larger fi nancial aid packages required to preserve access for middle and lower income families. One of the most pressing challenges we face is how to meet the fi nancial needs of these students and families.

As we strive to minimize tuition increases, we also need to invest in improvements to our programs.

With more educational opportunities in New York City for families to choose from, we will have a greater need to articulate and demonstrate the value of a Bank Street education.

We expect our educational program to be both local and global, as is our community, and will ensure that our curriculum continually refl ects that rich mixture.

As a school, we are susceptible to larger economic trends, and without the protection of an adequate endowment and full enrollment, we could be vulnerable to external fi nancial pressures.

This campaign—Securing a Progressive Future: The Endowment Campaign for Bank Street School for Children—is a compelling affi rmation of our values and leadership. Through the campaign, the School will garner the resources needed to sustain our socioeconomically diverse learning community, as well as to develop the programs, innovative curricula, and highly skilled teachers that will continue to defi ne excellence in progressive education.

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Endowment Questions & Answers

What is an endowment?

An endowment is a permanent, self-sustaining source of funding.

Endowment assets are invested, and each year a portion of the earnings, “endowment draw,” is paid out for the purpose of the fund, while the rest is reinvested to build the fund’s market value.

The School for Children endowment funds can grow, and provide support for the School in perpetuity.

How did Bank Street School for Children build its endowment?

Two previous Bank Street capital campaigns (1991-94 and 2000-04), in which the SFC had a small goal within a comprehensive institutional goal, established a $2.9 million endowment.

What is the value of Bank Street School for Children’s endowment now (as of December 31, 2013)?

Total endowment: $5,350,000

Endowment per student: $12,442

When the Campaign concludes, what will the value of the SFC’s endowment be?

Total endowment: $11 million

Endowment per student: $25,000

How much has been raised for the endowment so far in this Campaign?

$7,000,194 (65 donors)

How is the endowment managed?

The SFC’s endowment is part of Bank Street’s investments which now total over $36 million. The College’s investments, including endowments, are managed by an outside fi nancial services fi rm, under the guidance of the Finance Committee of the Bank Street Board of Trustees.

Investments represent a diversifi ed portfolio within the parameters of our approved asset allocation policy.

What is Bank Street’s endowment spending policy?

The Board of Trustees authorizes a percentage of the total endowment fair market value to be used annually to help fund scholarships and operations. The current draw is 1% per calendar quarter, 4% per year, of a rolling 20-quarter average of the fair market value. This approach refl ects best practice for colleges, schools and non-profi ts, as well as adherence to the regulations and guidelines of New York State.

This conservative spending policy allows for the growth of the endowment over time while providing essential funds for the School to use on an annual basis. Imagine if the SFC’s endowment were increased by $8 million, added to the base of $2.9 million at the start of the campaign, bringing it to $11 million. The annual yield, after 20 quarters, would increase to approximately $440,000, while the endowment continues to grow.

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How does this impact my Annual Fund gift?

The Annual Fund is the School’s lifeblood—similar to a checking account, it makes up the gap between tuition and the actual expense of each child’s education.

The Endowment is similar to a savings account—providing greater stability from year to year, taking pressure off tuition and annual giving to fund education programs.

It is crucial that all families sustain their comfortable level of annual giving fi rst. The endowment gift is a special, stretch gift to the School, payable over a period of several years.

Alfred University 1American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA), 1College and Conservatory of the Performing ArtsAmherst College 2Babson College 1Bard College 3Barnard College 2Bates College 1Bennington College 3Berklee College of Music 2Boston College 1Boston University 1Bowdoin College 5Brandeis University 1Brooklyn College 1Brown University 4Bryn Mawr College 1Bucknell University 2Carleton College 3Claremont McKenna College 1Clark University 1Colby College 1Colby-Sawyer College 1Colgate University 2College of Charleston 3College of Wooster 1Colorado College 1Columbia University 6Connecticut College 1Cornell University 2The Culinary Institute of America 1DePaul University 1Dickinson College 1Duke University 1Earlham College 1Eckerd College 1Emory University 1Endicott College 1Florida Southern College 1Georgetown University 1George Washington University 3Hamilton College 5Hampshire College 2Harvard University 2Johns Hopkins University 3Lewis & Clark College 1Loyola University, Chicago 1Loyola University, New Orleans 2Macalester College 1

Marist College 1Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts 1McGill University 2Middlebury College 3New York University 2New York University Steinhardt School 1for Vocal Performance/Musical TheaterNorthwestern University 3Oberlin College 5Parsons School of Design 1Pitzer College 2Pratt Institute 1Purchase College 1Reed College 1Rhode Island School of Design 1Sarah Lawrence College 2Skidmore College 1Smith College 2SUNY Geneseo 1SUNY Potsdam 1Swarthmore College 2Syracuse University 2Tufts University 2Tulane University 3Union College 1University at Albany, State University of New York 1University at Buffalo, State University of New York 1University of Chicago 5University of Connecticut 1University of Colorado at Boulder 1University of Delaware 1University of Maryland, Honors College 1University of Massachusetts Amherst 2University of Michigan 2University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill 2University of Pennsylvania 2University of Richmond 1University of St. Andrews (Scotland) 1University of Vermont 1University of Virginia 1Vanderbilt University 3Vassar College 3Washington University in St. Louis 1Wesleyan University 6Williams College 7Yale University 5

Total All Alumni 175 * Total number of schools attended from 2006-2010: 93

School for Children Alumni College Matriculations: Classes of 2006 – 2010

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Avenues 1Berkeley Carroll 1Brearley 1Brooklyn Friends 2Browning 1Calhoun 5Chapin 1Claremont Prep 1Collegiate 2Columbia Prep 10Cushing Academy (MA) 1Dalton 8Deerfi eld Academy (MA) 1Dwight 2Dwight-Englewood (NJ) 4Ethel Walker School (CT) 1Fieldston 15Forman School (CT) 1Friends Seminary 14Grace Church 1Hackley 3Heschel 1Horace Mann 11Lawrenceville School (NJ) 1LREI 11Loyola 2Miss Porter’s (CT) 1Nightingale-Bamford 1Packer Collegiate 10Philips Exeter (NH) 2Poly Prep 2Professional Children’s School 1Putney (VT) 2Riverdale Country 4Rudolf Steiner 1Spence 1St. Ann’s 2Suffi eld Academy (CT) 1Trevor Day School 7Trinity 5York Prep 1

Subtotal Independent Schools 143

American Studies (Lehman) 3Bard Early College 7Beacon 16Dobbs Ferry HS (NY) 1Eleanor Roosevelt 3Global Learning Collaborative 1LaGuardia High School for Music, 16Art and Performing ArtsMillennium 1NEST (New School for Sci. & Tech.) 1Stuyvesant 3

Subtotal Public Schools 52

Total All Schools 195 * Total number of schools matriculated to, 2010-2014: 51

School for Children High School Matriculations: Classes of 2010 – 2014

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Ways to Make a Difference

By participating in the endowment campaign for Bank Street School for Children, you are helping shape the lives of students and teachers, as well as helping to transform an institution. Here are several ways you can make a gift to the campaign:

Outright gifts or pledges Gifts made in their entirety are welcomed and

appreciated. However, having the option to pay a gift over time often makes it possible to make a larger total gift. A pledge made to the endowment campaign can be paid over three to fi ve years, but will make an immediate impact on our campaign goals.

Gift of appreciated stock

Corporate matching gifts

Planned gifts

Naming Opportunities Donors of $100,000 or more will be offered specifi c

naming opportunities in a campaign fund of interest.

Take the next step

Contact Carla ScheeleDirector of Endowment and Special Gifts212.961.3329carlas@bankstreet.edu

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Board of Trustees

Yolanda Ferrell-Brown, Chair

Anthony Asnes, SFC ’75

Jay Chakrapani

Tiffani Chambers

Suzanne Childs

Jonathan Cole

Bettye R. Fletcher Comer

Tom Fennimore

Felice Friedman, GS ’76

Sarah Gund, GS ’73

Victoria Hamilton

Sue Kaplan, Vice Chair

Kenneth B. Lerer

Adam H. Litke

Christopher Mayer

Joel H. Moser

Michael T. Nettles

Dr. Laura Parsons

Elizabeth S. Pforzheimer

Sandra Pinnavaia

Shael Polakow-Suransky, President *

Anne V. Shutkin, SFC ’95

Howard S. Stein, Treasurer

Lynn G. Straus, GS ’57 , Vice Chair

Jeffrey I. Sussman, Vice Chair

Kate R. Whitney, Secretary

Debbie Zlotowitz

* President serves as ex-offi cio

Associate Trustees

Chris Black, Student Associate Trustee

Jody Gorton, Parent Associate Trustee

Ali McKersie, Staff Associate Trustee

Rose Klein Young, Parent Associate Trustee

Mollie Kruger Walsh, Staff Associate Trustee

Life Trustees

George P. Scurria, Jr.

Margaret L. Stevens, GS ’77

Campaign Steering Committee

David Guyer, Campaign Co-Chair

Sandra Pinnavaia, Campaign Co-Chair

Susan Brune

Sonja Carter

Laura Clark

Jonathan Cole

Margot Egan

Elizabeth Goldman

Andrea Goren

Jody Gorton

M. Elaine Johnston

Keith Lender

Rebecca Mai

Lori Malloy

Adam Max, SFC ’72

David Orr, SFC ’93

Camilla Rab

Pamela Bol Riess

Nina Ellsworth Sanger, SFC ’88

Anne Shutkin, SFC ’95

Rose Klein Young

Ex-Offi cio

Alexis Wright, Dean, Children’s Programs

John Borden, Vice President, Development & External Relations

Carla Scheele, Director, Endowment & Special Gifts

Adam Litke, Trustee & Chair, Advancement Committee

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Mission

The mission of Bank Street College is to improve the education of children and their teachers by applying to the educational process all available knowledge about learning and growth, and by connecting teaching and learning meaningfully to the outside world. In so doing, we seek to strengthen not only individuals, but the community as well, including family, school, and the larger society in which adults and children, in all their diversity, interact and learn. We see in education the opportunity to build a better society.

www.bankstreet.edu